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Mark V is planning to read Someone Knows My Name: A Novel.
Mark V added Someone Knows My Name: A Novel.
Mark V reviewed The True Believer 3 days ago.
“ Hoffer's brief reflection has been very helpful to me in understanding just what goes in the kind of thinking that... ”
Mark V is planning to read Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England .
Mark V added Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England .
Mark V is planning to read The Enemy Within: 2,000 Years of Witch-hunting in the Western World.
Mark V is planning to read In Defense of Food.
Mark V added In Defense of Food.
Mark V is planning to read The Omnivore's Dilemma.
Mark V added The Omnivore's Dilemma.
Mark V’s last login was 2 days ago. show recent activity »
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Greetings CROAH member!We are now accepting nominations for the next group read to cover the fourth US President, James Madison. Please send your suggestions via one of 2 ways: a) a private note to either Regina or Dog Lover (this method reveals your email address to us), or b) use the "Questions About this Group" text box found on the member's tab. This sends an email to both administrators and masks your email address.Please do NOT post your nomination to the site's discussion tab. Please include the title, author, and brief description of the book. It would also be nice if you included the Shelfari book page URL.Nominations will be accepted through the 18th. Nominations will be posted and voting will take place through the 25th. We will post the selected book on the 26th.Because we are approaching the Holidays a revised schedule will be followed for the remainder of 2009 and beginning of 2010. We will vote for the Madison read in October, post discussion questions in November, skip December, vote on Monroe reads in January, and post discussion questions in February.A suggestion has been made to continue the extended reading schedule past the Holidays and provide 2 months between book selections. We would be interested in hearing anyone's thoughts on this. Would it help you? Would you lose momentum? Are you too busy to participate on the current schedule.Please post your comments on this proposed scheduling change to the nomination thread found at http://www.shelfari.com/groups/34700/discussions/146618/James-Madison-Nominations-are-OpenThe four books we've chosen since the group started have been fabulous. We look forward to seeing the nominations for the fifth.Thanks,Regina & DL
Damned interesting books you have on your shelf.
Greetings CROAH members!The nominations are in for the CROAH September group read about Thomas Jefferson.You'll find the ballot at http://www.shelfari.com/groups/34700/discussions/137240/Vote-for-Thomas-Jefferson-Reads---September-2009This is a "ballot" therefore...Please vote only once.Please indicate only a vote "for" - do not vote against a title.Please do not include any sales talk or justification for your vote - just "yae" or "for".The last 3 reads have been just fabulous. With this range of nominations, it looks as though we'll have another winner for our 4th group read!Thanks so much to all of you who submitted nominations - great job!Lookin' forward to your votes,DL
Hey hey! Glad to hear it. I'm doing good, been reading a bunch but also been too damn busy to keep this up to date. I'm working on it!
Hi Mark, Back from Peaks Island Maine. I see you read Octavian Nothing. What didi you think. It was hard to read in places but I loved it. I have been trying to get through the second one all summer....How goes the AP planning? Can you get to any institutes? I can't get out of my bathtub since my computer won't accept the new adobe....good thing I deleted most of my students!
Thanks Mark,If you would be so kind...Regina is usually the one to handle the group directly. Let me explain why we want nominations as I directed in my note to you. We don't want discussions about which book to select posted on the group directly so that we can avoid hurt feelings, defensiveness, and other reactions that can occur when a member feels "invested" by posting. The "blind" nominations allow people to judge a nomination on its face rather than the possibility of judging based on who nominated it.Would you mind deleting your posting and using the methods we designed for this? As an admin, I could delete it but I don't feel comfortable taking that action. This is strictly your choice.I really don't want to come across as unpleasant but this method has worked very well for us with the last 2 selections. Does that make any sense to you? We aren't "regimented", we just want things to go smoothly.Thanks,DL
Greetings!The Chronological Read of American History Group (CROAH) is now ready to receive your nominations for the group's September read.The subject is Thomas Jefferson. To nominate a biography, please send the title, author, and a brief description of the book to the group administrators. You might choose to also include the URL for the Shelfari book page associated with your nominated title. To send us your nominated title, you may use either the "private note" feature (which will reveal your email address to the administrators) or the "Questions about this group?" text entry box found on the member tab of CROAH which will protect your privacy.Nominations will be accepted through Aug 16 2009.Voting will take place from August 17 - 23, 2009 with an announcement on August 24, 2009.Lookin' forward to seein' your nominations!DL
Great advice. I'll start with his autobiography.
Congratulations! Fabulous news. I assume you mean not this academic year but next? Let me know what I can do to help.
What would you recommend as a good book to learn more about Benjamin Franklin?
How was your evening? Tell me again the title of the book/ Sounds interesting. Not like I need more books to read...My 11th grade is the Language and Composition class. It's very very different than a traditional English class. It's focused on rhetoric and non-fiction which isn't really part of the "traditionally trained" English teacher's experience. Or at least mine. I am on tenterhooks waiting for the scores to come in. I knkow what you mean about the "big man on campus" kind of teacher. My chair teaches the Lit class, and while he isn't *quite* like that, I do worry. He gets the first batch of kids I had for two years in a row--honors 10 and AP 11--next year. I also followed in the footsteps of a Phd, and you know how snobby teachers can be. Right now, my physical hopes are that I can start running regularly w/o my back issues acting up.
I agree with you about her being Mormon. You'll notice as you read that "nothing" happens. There's an absolutely unreasonable (to me) debate over Bella as a protagonist. She's not a good role model for girls, blah blah. I always counter with Juliet--wouldn't want my daughter emulating her either! You're probably right with the ten yr old. While "nothing happens" there's a LOT of represseed sexuality. That's why I've enjoyed my "adult" trampy vamps ;]I did play rugby for about 6-7 years--mostly college and my first year or two of teaching. No, I am normal sized and strength although I would love to agree with your Amazonian comparison. One of the things I loved about rugby is that there is a spot for every body type--the wispy girl who can run like the wind, the girl built like a house, and everything inbetween. I did crack a rib once (which led to me getting randomly asked out by the emt, awkward) but my worst injury was playing squash. I got cracked in the mouth by a raquet and almost lost several teeth. That's cool you have enough kids to have a Chess club. My son really likes it, but none of us really know what we're doing.I was speaking about the AP listserv. You're right, it is a copious amount of email. However, it was invaluable for me as a first year Ap teacher. Does your 11th grade take the test? The Language curriculum is quite differnt than anything I've encountered.Your book club sounds like great fun! Enjoy! Have you read The Brief and WOndrous Life of Oscar Wao yet? I have heard so m uch about it. I have it checked out of the library but I haven't cracked it open yet. Teachers sure do love to talk! Not so weird. Potato peel pie, on the other hand. What the heck is that?
Trust me, you can do the spark note version of the second one. The movie is going to be different anyway b/c the book doesn't have much Edward. (And really, I do enjoy Robert Pattison--what red blooded woman wouldn't?) But I think of the whole series as a reallly safe way for these girls (and some boys--I know a lot) to think about sex and relationships. It's not great literature by any means, but reading shouldn't always be praying in the church of the literary canon, IMO.Thus my adult "tramy vamps". This year I had 4 preps to get AP 11. It was SOOO hard. I like variety, but man, it was tough. I am also teachin a 9-10 Writing Workshop and 2 Accel 10s. For the last couple years I have had "CP" (In "" b/c it's fictional) 12, but not now. Have you joined the listserv? It's so helpful. I did teach at the cc and state college level pt when kids were really small. They're going into 3rd and 4th grade next year. When I did state college, I augmented with Blackboard. I really liked it. I wish I had the time to figure out how to blog etc. One of my comrades does a wonderful job with it. I started soccer "late" in 4th grade and played pretty much year around until college. I was burnt out on that and started rugby which is/ was amazing fun, but feeling hung over like you got hit by a wrecking ball every Sunday gets old you know as youdo as well. After I left college and realized there are few/none teams for ladies over 21 I started running, but I've been having back problems the last few years so not so good. You're correct about Joplin. Cool about your former students. Love it when they ar eso successful. One of my girls who I had 10th and 11th grade and coached her for three years in XC just finished her firs tyear in a double MA in Nursing and Public Health--at Harvard!!! I was so happy!
Ok, I just looked at your shelf and now I really AM feeling guilty. Do you use Shelfari at school at all? I was trying to figure out what grades you teach from your shelf rather unsuccessfully. I don't think I am going to anymore b/c I have more fun and freedom with the adults.
Oh, geesh, thanks for the laugh so early in the a.m. DOn't worry about the long message--kinda goes with the professional territory.Twilight was just fun for me. The skin sparkling like diamonds got to me too. It's cool to see so many kids reading such long books. The next book in the series I didn't care for, but I did like the third one. Plus the movies have major hunk factor. Your experience reading Moby Dick aloud is terrific! What a great experience for them and you! I love your metaphor about reading. I know exactly what you mean. I think rereading is one of the joys of our profession. There's a road race in Boston on BBloomsday where the course has people reading Ulysses aloud. Not that you'd care much if you were racing, but still cool.So do you play baseball as well? Who is your team?Isn't Port Angeles where Janis Joplin was from?
p.s. I loved the John Adams book. McCullough is a wonderful writer!The Book Thief a "woman's book"? Really? Do you agree?Lovely rugby shirt as well--did/do you play?
Oh, your reading list is making me feel guilty. I have been wanting to Read Moby Dick forever, but I was on trampy vamp fiction, and now I am reading historical fiction, and well, I better get out of the bathtub and put my English teacher hat on, right?
Welcome to the Chronological Read of American History Group. We are looking forwad to getting to know you. Feel free to make suggestions on how to make the group better.
Mark,Saw your review on John Adams by McCullough.This book has been selected as a group-read for July 2009 by the Chronological Read of American History group at http://www.shelfari.com/groups/34700/about.We'd welcome your joining the group and the discussions,DL
But if the story was only a Freudian "wishful-thinking" delusion that saved him, doesn't that undermine Pi's bold adherence to religion? It seems that he's saying, "Isn't it a better story with the animals in it?" so as to prove a point that people WANT to have God, the supernatural, the mysterious OTHER in the equation, otherwise life is a "dry, yeastless factuality" like the last chapter.
